Berkshire Museum cleared to sell artworks at NYC auction

PITTSFIELD — Two iconic paintings by Norman Rockwell and other artworks owned by the Berkshire Museum can be sold as planned, after the struggling nonprofit prevailed Tuesday in a Berkshire Superior Court legal challenge.

Judge John Agostini ruled that plaintiffs in two civil actions, and the state Attorney General's Office itself, failed to make their cases to halt a large-scale deaccession by the museum.

The judge is unsparing in his view that the Attorney General's Office conducted an anemic review of the art sale after it was notified about it by the museum in June.